Parties Unite Against Closing

Rell, Democrats Join Forces To Defend Groton Sub Base

Business and labor, Republican and Democrat, state leaders joined forces Monday to fight the proposed closure of the Groton submarine base, saying the action is militarily and financially misguided.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell and House Speaker James Amann, D-Milford, held three separate meetings to gather information and marshal forces to block a decision they said would cause economic devastation in southeastern Connecticut.

Rell will travel to Groton today to meet with top business leaders from the region to plot strategy. She also intends to meet Wednesday with a special ``strike force'' of nine state agencies that will have the sole goal of overturning the base-closure recommendation.

``Trust me when I tell you that we're going to be looking at everything they've talked about, but even more,'' Rell said. ``We believe that we can refute much of the argument that the military has already put into the recommendation.''

In 1993, when the Pentagon also tried to close the base, it underestimated the cost of moving the facilities to Georgia, she said. This time, she believes, the Pentagon underestimated the cost of an environmental cleanup that would be required if the base were closed. The Pentagon is estimating $23.9 million to clean 15 heavily contaminated sites at the base, including heavy metals discarded decades ago, solvents from cleaning metal and machinery and lead from a firing range, officials said.

In a session with business, union and political leaders, Amann chaired the opening ``summit'' to energize leaders and attempt to replicate the victories of blocking the base closure and saving the Seawolf submarine in the 1990s.

Sen. Catherine Cook, R-Mystic, and University of Connecticut economics Professor Fred Carstensen both said they doubted closing the base would save any money at all -- undermining a key basis for the Pentagon's recommendation. The federal government, they said, would still need to pay the thousands of submariners who would be departing Groton and heading to Virginia and Georgia. The extra costs, Cook said, include the environmental clean-up, federal retraining funds to help displaced workers and unemployment costs from the ripple effect of potentially losing an estimated 31,500 jobs in Connecticut.

The state's analysis assumes that the submarine builder Electric Boat, also in Groton, would move its operations to accompany the submarines. Although EB said last week the company will remain in Groton even if the base closes, state officials say eventually the company would have to relocate.

``Electric Boat activities are at risk over the longer term -- five to 10 years,'' Carstensen said.

The total job loss figure includes 7,800 military workers at the base, along with 1,400 civilians and 650 reservists, according to the state's Department of Economic and Community Development. The number also includes about 8,700 jobs at the Electric Boat submarine manufacturer, along with thousands more in a ripple effect from bars, restaurants, contractors, and small businesses that would be affected.

Overall, the base and Electric Boat generate $3.3 billion in annual economic activity, the department said. Since 35 percent of Electric Boat's workers live in Rhode Island, the potential regional impact could eventually be as many as 50,000 lost jobs and an economic hit as high as $5 billion, Carstensen said.

``I would find it hard to believe that there are any cost savings at all'' from closing the base, he said.

As the financial impact was being explained, Amann said he disagreed with the Pentagon's criteria that evaluates the base closings on their military value and essentially ignores the local and statewide economic impact.

``It's almost like a financial 9/11,'' Amann said. ``It's just as devastating as if we were attacked'' at the base.

Multiple speakers at Amann's summit stressed the synergies and co-location advantages of Groton as the home not only to the submarine base, but also to Electric Boat and the submarine school that they said is unmatched at any other Navy location. The sub base should remain open, they said, because the engineers, designers, submarine skippers, and crew members are all together in one place -- solving problems and making the subs run efficiently.

U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, R-2nd District, sounded the same theme later after meeting with Rell and other congressional representatives at the governor's mansion in Hartford's West End.

``There is an important national security value in having a submarine base located adjacent to the premier submarine production facility in America,'' Simmons said. ``Taking submarines out of Groton-New London is like taking cars out of Detroit. You are going to destroy what you have if you do it.''

Lawmakers emphasized that the state is in a multi-step struggle, and Simmons said the Pentagon recommendation Friday was step four of a 10-step process.